This invention relates to a hard diamond composite material containing known amounts of specific elements for use as a reference standard.
To the best of the ‘inventors’ knowledge, there is no currently existing solid diamond matrix which can be used as a standard for diamond research or carbon composite research, or by manufacturers for quality control. Existing standards are lacking in terms of physical or chemical properties such as specific target elements for research, a super hard diamond-like matrix and as a result do not perform well when analyzed by some analytical methodologies, and/or are non-homogeneous.
Accordingly, a need exists for a material which can be used as a multi element diamond standard. The need for such a material was one of the recommendations highlighted at the “Diamond Fingerprinting—Expert workshop on the feasibility of source identification of conflict diamonds using analytical techniques” in Geel (2007, Belgium). Such a standard could find use by synthetic diamond manufacturers, law enforcement agencies and researchers in various fields. The present invention provides such a material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,393, issued to Alfred E. Ringwood on Apr. 21, 1992, (which is incorporated herein by reference) describes the preparation of a diamond compact comprised of 60-90% diamond crystals connected by a silicon carbide bond. The compact is produced by intimately mixing the diamond crystals with a silicon bonding agent, and subjecting the resulting mixture to high temperature and pressure to form silicon carbide bonds between the matrix and the diamond grit.